How to build a pinball machine

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30

#1 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Hey Pinside!
As you may or may not know, I’m building a pinball machine from scratch with zero knowledge on how to do so.
I’ve been streaming every single bit of the process so you can follow along, and I’ll have footage to cut into a small doc later.

Keep in mind that I knew/know nothing about this process so we are learning CAD and Programming live on stream together.

So far we have done:
-Come up with a design idea
-Build it virtually to test
-Refine said idea
-Print playfield layout
-Cut several test playfield
-Concept rules and inserts
-Theme and art concept
-Populate a playfield to hand-test shots
-Use Mission Pinball to set some base code

All hardware was graciously supplied from Stern Pinball.

We are getting a set of P3roc boards from the awesome folks over at Multimorphic to use as the brains for the game.

Scott Danesi has cut all of our playfiled thus far, and is a great kisser.

We recently joined a local hackerspace to have access to industrial tools, CNC, laser cutters, etc so we can make this game right!

Our next steps coming up.
-Work with Ed whom made the Ghost in the Shell homebrew. He will be showing us live how to make our ball guides, wiring harnesses, and explaining what all the P3roc boards do!

-Live stream a tutorial from George Gomez himself, showing how he approaches a new table design, and how to use foam core to layout your game.

An impossible task for myself is, I’d love to bring this game, flipping, to TPF. No serious code or anything, just something to shoot on. Not tooooo far fetched but I’m fricken busy 100% of the time.

A question I have for you folks is, would you like this doc cut into two parts? I can start editing what footage I have right now to give everyone a lead to go start building their own game. That, or I can wait till it flips and call it there. LMK!

Fingers crossed and thanks to everyone who has been following along.

You all rock,
Jack
FBE0EBF8-37B6-43A0-82DB-3CE8DAEF20EF (resized).jpegA9C2DD85-478C-439F-95A1-74B221309AD0 (resized).jpegCA1D8D4A-4C2C-40B5-A16F-07518FE3BF25 (resized).jpeg0BF3676C-637C-4C85-94E6-864EC379E6CC (resized).jpeg9C1D87BB-9F1E-4BA6-B124-8A1F3256EFEB (resized).jpegA24A43FC-7F12-41CB-A349-714ED940D360 (resized).jpeg

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4

#2 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Couple of vids of the game so far.
Throwing balls.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs6iEGHFsM9/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1q8uqojmn3oo3

Throwing balls PT2.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs6jpqqlCzr/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=1qfz83gon5e8q

Quick digital test.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BoAAM6albRs/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=7vvvq30feqc4

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#3 5 years ago

MSC

D-Gottlieb

Pinside member

8y 55,800 1,986

Very interested. Watching this..

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#4 5 years ago

ZAC

zacaj

RPC

Rochester, NY

11y 158K 10,387 85 122 1

It would be amazing (if slightly off topic) to just get interviews with tons of designers about how they go about laying out a playfield. Video with Gomez sounds great

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1

#5 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from zacaj:
It would be amazing (if slightly off topic) to just get interviews with tons of designers about how they go about laying out a playfield. Video with Gomez sounds great

That WOULD be pretty rad actually...

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#6 5 years ago

CAM

Jediturtle

Pinside member

Plymouth, WI

12y 109K 4,482 14 66

Do you ever sleep? Thanks for all you do for the hobby Jack! Love what you do. Hope you can make it up to MGC!

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#7 5 years ago

ABB

Aurich

Mods and Opinions

Torrance, CA

11y 144K 23,395 3

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
Hand-bent some temporary rails (We’ll have metal walls on the real deal)

Just saying, but I love the look of the rails in the test video. And the have the advantage of letting GI light out, instead of being blocked by metal walls. Something Alien struggled with.

Looking forward to whatever you do. Cut a video now, save it all for later, whatever. Do whatever is the most fun for you.

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4

#8 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from Jediturtle:
Do you ever sleep? Thanks for all you do for the hobby Jack! Love what you do. Hope you can make it up to MGC!

I’ll sleep when I’m dead. ❤️

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#9 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from Aurich:
Just saying, but I love the look of the rails in the test video. And the have the advantage of letting GI light out, instead of being blocked by metal walls. Something Alien struggled with.
Looking forward to whatever you do. Cut a video now, save it all for later, whatever. Do whatever is the most fun for you.

The rails on the actual game were temporary to prove to people the shot actually works.
Actual rail guides like in the digital video will be used for sure! We’ll cut little notches out of the guides for GI to come through!

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#10 5 years ago

AXE

YeOldPinPlayer

Inactive member

Unknown

8y 111K 6,454 4 12

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
I’m building a pinball machine from scratch with zero knowledge on how to do so.
I’ve been streaming every single bit of the process so you can follow along, and I’ll have footage to cut into a small doc later.
...
would you like this doc cut into two parts?

I think one doc will be an effective way to present your information. We have the ability to pause and bookmark progress in a document/video today.

I envision a reference video for creating pinball, a sort of Pinball 101 for the creation process. Looking forward to it.

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#11 5 years ago

GSN

FireGamer3

Pinside member

Stillwater, OK

6y 29,800 78 2

Following as I am also very interested in making my own one off homebrew at some point! Thanks for documenting all of this!

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#12 5 years ago

ZOR

zermeno68

Pinside+ Addict

Ridgecrest, CA

12y 86,050 1,308 5

Quoted from FireGamer3:
Following as I am also very interested in making my own one off homebrew at some point! Thanks for documenting all of this!

Same here!!!!! Go Deadflip!!!!

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#13 5 years ago

TMN

TomN

Pinside+ Frequent

Lambertville, MI

11y 61,550 967 20

Very cool!! Definitely in for the LE On second thought maybe I'll wait for the premium.

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#14 5 years ago

FPG

luvthatapex2

Pinside member

North Wales, PA

11y 129K 5,769 7 100

Nice idea Jack to share your journey.

What is the purpose of the spinners in the outlane? Spinners are super fun when you can rip them during gameplay. There won't be much spinner action on a drain. What do you in mind?

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#15 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from luvthatapex2:
Nice idea Jack to share your journey.
What is the purpose of the spinners in the outlane? Spinners are super fun when you can rip them during gameplay. There won't be much spinner action on a drain. What do you in mind?

I think of it as a fun way to gauge how fast the game EFFED you, and use that as a gimmick in the code. Ha

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#16 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

As pointed out above, I’m making this Doc as a 101 to help inspire more designers. EVERYONE has ideas, and if a ding dong like me can make a pin with no knowledge, so can you. ❤️

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#17 5 years ago

JDS

swinks

Swinks Pinball

12y 136K 10,573

very cool, following and thanks for sharing

like the city scape concept art

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#18 5 years ago

JDS

swinks

Swinks Pinball

12y 136K 10,573

What is the general story line of your game Jack?

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#19 5 years ago

BIL

dothedoo

Pinside member

12y 106K 7,265

I like the multiball mech and the stand up targets that you can't directly hit under the rollover lanes up top. Interesting ideas.

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#20 5 years ago

JAM

Wolfmarsh

Pinside member

12y 134K 10,956

I love that you are doing this. Keep up the good work Jack.

I'm expecting you to bring the game to SFGE.

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#21 5 years ago

COZ

Coz

RiverCity Arcade

6y 125K 3,818

Looks like a really cool, unique and interesting design.

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#22 5 years ago

TPR

frunch

Pinside member

Point Pleasant, NJ

11y 135K 3,642 10

A buddy and i have been kicking around the idea of building a pin, i will be following this!

Good luck, the game looks awesome!

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#23 5 years ago

LEW

Pinballlew

Pinside member

8y 116K 3,940 7

This is so awesome. I think when your finished a full documentary would be fantastic! Good luck!

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#24 5 years ago

JJJ

jonesjb

Pinside member

New York, NY

10y 118K 3,945 3 19

DeadFlip This looks like such a unique and fun layout with many satisfying shots. Chaining those semi loops looks addictive. Will the right orbit prongs descend eventually so you can do full orbits during multiball?

Well done, will be following this with interest.

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#25 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Wow thanks for the feedback!
❤️❤️

So the idea of the right orbit lock is, it’s a wide open orbit until you hit a “light lock” shot enough, upon which those drops come up.
The first shot to the drops will trap a ball behind the “avatar-esq” prongs. You then have to hit that ball several times to knock it out of that area, prongs and drops go away, you have a multiball and your orbit back.

The theme, if I had to generalize quickly, is... think “The Warriors” for underground arcades if Pinball was never made legal again, and that learched into the realm of all arcade games. Gang/league fights while avoiding the authorities.

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#26 5 years ago

JJJ

jonesjb

Pinside member

New York, NY

10y 118K 3,945 3 19

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
Wow thanks for the feedback!
❤️❤️
So the idea of the right orbit lock is, it’s a wide open orbit until you hit a “light lock” shot enough, upon which those drops come up.
The first shot to the drops will trap a ball behind the “avatar-esq” prongs. You then have to hit that ball several times to knock it out of that area, prongs and drops go away, you have a multiball and your orbit back.
The theme, if I had to generalize quickly, is... think “The Warriors” for underground arcades if Pinball was never made legal again, and that learched into the realm of all arcade games. Gang/league fights while avoiding the authorities.

Love the Warriors and always thought it would make a great theme for a pin. Your pin will have some amazing flow.

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#27 5 years ago

JCW

LOTR_breath

Pinside member

Fultondale, AL

11y 125K 5,678 9 101

Awesome Jack!

warriors (resized).jpg

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#28 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

‪It’s here!‬

‪Our P-Roc boards have arrived! We now have the means to make our game an ACTUAL pinball machine.‬

‪We’ll be doing a stream soon explaining what everything does, so stay tuned!‬

‪Fricken Hyped! Shout out to Gerry at Multimorphic!

5E8439F4-9E1A-412A-804C-3AEE368A6F11 (resized).jpeg9FB20DC2-E1E8-4480-BC97-04A163AB5745 (resized).jpegE6A16001-0DC3-4475-89D2-1EC43B93725B (resized).jpeg

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#29 5 years ago

RJW

s1500

Pinside member

St Paul, MN

12y 68,650 1,482 2 9

Looking at the initial drawings of the playfield, I like it. It's not the usual fan layout we are used to seeing.

And with this, here's the "building a pinball" drinking game rules:

1 sip for

* You need to bring this to $GAMING_CONVENTION
* $GAME_COMPANY needs to make this!
* This needs to be made! Who do I send my preorder money to!?!??!?
* This looks more fun than $RECENTLY_RELEASED_PIN
* I would love to have this in my game room!

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#30 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from s1500:
And with this, here's the "building a pinball" drinking game rules:
1 sip for
* You need to bring this to $GAMING_CONVENTION
* $GAME_COMPANY needs to make this!
* This needs to be made! Who do I send my preorder money to!?!??!?
* This looks more fun than $RECENTLY_RELEASED_PIN
* I would love to have this in my game room!

Haha cheers to that!

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#31 5 years ago

CKA

ryan1234

Pinside member

11y 82,550 1,004

Have you chosen software/framework?

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#32 5 years ago

MDB

Mbecker

Pinside+ Frequent

Seattle, WA

10y 104K 4,313 5 14

Very cool!! More homebrew is always a great thing!

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#33 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from ryan1234:
Have you chosen software/framework?

PROC/MISSION

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#34 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

We should have a "close to final" playfield cut this up-coming week.

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1

#35 5 years ago

JDS

swinks

Swinks Pinball

12y 136K 10,573

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
The theme, if I had to generalize quickly, is... think “The Warriors” for underground arcades if Pinball was never made legal again, and that learched into the realm of all arcade games. Gang/league fights while avoiding the authorities.

very cool idea and the city scape will work great, very clever

have added your game / thread to the homebrew index thread
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/homebrew-pinball-games-released-2016-to-current

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#36 5 years ago

DM

dmarston

Pinside member

11y 59,900 1,547

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
An impossible task for myself is, I’d love to bring this game, flipping, to TPF. No serious code or anything, just something to shoot on. Not tooooo far fetched but I’m fricken busy 100% of the time.

That's a tight schedule! I say: you need to bring this to Pintastic New England, June 27-30. (OK, that's one of the bingo items taken care of.) Pintastic has generous rewards for custom games!
.................David Marston

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#37 5 years ago

JJZ

toyotaboy

RandOM Pinball

Allyn, WA

12y 184K 11,936 3 14

so this tutorial of "how to build a pinball".. are you thinking book? online video? dvd? mix of all the above? any idea what you think you'll charge?

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#38 5 years ago

JAW

jawjaw

Pinside member

Humble, TX

9y 85,550 5,534 5

Very cool layout. Looks flat out fun! Looking forward to updates.

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8

#39 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from toyotaboy:
so this tutorial of "how to build a pinball".. are you thinking book? online video? dvd? mix of all the above? any idea what you think you'll charge?

It's a video, and it's going to be free for all.

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#40 5 years ago

PHS

PSchwisow

Pinside member

Antioch, IL

5y 36,900 133 3

For those of us locals, will we be able to play this somewhere closer than Texas? Maybe MGC in Milwaukee in April?

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#41 5 years ago

ABB

Aurich

Mods and Opinions

Torrance, CA

11y 144K 23,395 3

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
The theme, if I had to generalize quickly, is... think “The Warriors” for underground arcades if Pinball was never made legal again, and that learched into the realm of all arcade games. Gang/league fights while avoiding the authorities.

This is already 10x more interesting than using a license.

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#42 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from PSchwisow:
For those of us locals, will we be able to play this somewhere closer than Texas? Maybe MGC in Milwaukee in April?

That's what i'm hoping! No promises though, just wishing out loud!

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#43 5 years ago

JJZ

toyotaboy

RandOM Pinball

Allyn, WA

12y 184K 11,936 3 14

OP
Quoted from DeadFlip:
it's going to be free for all.

I appreciate the good will. If it's truly good, I wouldn't mind paying for it. I was happy to pay $15 or whatever it was for both Pinball 101 and 102.

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#44 5 years ago

REM

pudealee

Pinside member

9y 76,300 829

You really need to design the flippers to look like "butts up."

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#45 5 years ago

WS

desertT1

Tucson Pinball

Vail, AZ

12y 72,550 4,032 23

I'm really looking forward to the MPF portion. Haven't been able to watch lately so hopefully I haven't missed any/much. That's been my biggest struggle.

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#46 5 years ago

OP

D_F

DeadFlip

Pinside member

Chicago, IL

9y 95,800 1,077 15

Quoted from desertT1:
I'm really looking forward to the MPF portion. Haven't been able to watch lately so hopefully I haven't missed any/much. That's been my biggest struggle.

We did a bit of MPF on stream already, all I have to say about that is... the tutorial will take you from nothing to a flipping game in literally one sitting.

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#47 5 years ago

BEN

Chosen_S

Pinside+ Frequent

10y 113K 6,296

Checking this out!

Hey... I’m into building my own games too, (except I’m just restoring from scratch)

Keep it up, I can’t wait to see the progress

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#48 5 years ago

GER

Hitlow

Pinside member

Long Beach, CA

5y 31,900 12 44 23

I am digging that orbit lock. And I hope while in multiball those posts will be down so you can rip the spinner and the orbit. Might be a cool mode where you have to knock down those drop targets down again and rip the spinner durning multiball.

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#49 5 years ago

MAT

branlon8

Pinside member

Köln

9y 54,800 954 15

One of the joys of pinball is watching the ball roll around. It looks like this design will produce a lot of entertaining ball movement - very nice. And such a wide open playfield! We have become so accustomed to ramps so if they’re missing it’s jarring. But ramps also take up space, so leave ‘em off I say for more wild ball movement! I also really like playfields on which you can always see the ball. The downside of unusual designs is that the number of targets from left to right can be reduced - but with clever rules this certainly does not need to be a downside - in fact quite the opposite. Three isolated pops - that’s really new, I think. I will enjoy following this thread.

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#50 5 years ago

BOB

bjsilverballs

Pinside+ Frequent

14y 75,550 525 1

I’d put a gimmick in the spinner outlane. Something like the Freddy claw save or Embryon flip save. Something that if executed properly rips the spinner and gives a playfield bonus.

That said, looks pretty cool so far!

By DeadFlip

5 years ago

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